US ranked 26th in global Internet speed, South Korea number one

The United States ranks 26th in a recent report concerning global Internet speed. Such a ranking puts the US slightly ahead of the world average at 616KBps, according to Pando Networks.

The study analyzed 27 million downloads by 20 million computers in 224 countries from January through June 2011 to determine that the average worldwide download speed is 580KBps. South Korean Internet access is nearly four times faster than what most Americans use. That country ranked first in the study with an average speed of 2,202KBps, surpassing most nations by a large margin. Romania and Bulgaria came in second and third place with average speeds of 1,909KBps and 1,611KBps, respectively.

On the low end, developing nations in Africa and Asia reported painfully slow speeds. The Congo came in dead last at 13KBps, followed by the Central African Republic at 14KBp and Comoros at 23KBps.

"The disparities we found were striking. While, in general, developed economies outpaced the developing world in average download speeds, big names such as the US, UK, France, China and Canada were not even close to being the fastest. Instead, we saw high speeds in markets such as Eastern Europe where focus on infrastructural development and favorable geography promote a higher level of connectivity,” said Robert Levitan, CEO of Pando Networks.

The study further detailed Internet speeds based on cities and ISPs, with Verizon Internet Services providing the fastest connection in the US courtesy of their FIOS network. The fastest six cities are all located in South Korea, with Andover, MA and Bucharest, Romania the only two non-South Korean cities to make the top 10.